Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

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CHAPTER SEVEN
Information and democracy:
Jürgen Habermas
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There is a group of commentators on the ‘information society’ that, while
conceding that there is a lot more information in circulation nowadays, is unenthusiastic
about pronouncements of the ‘information age’. Such commentators
tend to regard this information as being tainted, as having been interfered with
by parties which have ‘managed’ its presentation, or which have ‘packaged’ it to
‘persuade’ people in favour of certain positions, or which have ‘manipulated’ it
to serve their own ends, or which have produced it as a saleable commodity that
is ‘entertaining’. These thinkers lean towards the view that the ‘information
society’ is one in which advertising campaigns, the Defence Department’s ‘disinformation’
strategies, the public relations ‘expert’, the parliamentary ‘lobbyist’, the
judicious ‘presenter’ of government policy, and the ‘official leak’ from ‘reliable
sources’ close to the prime minister all play a disproportionate role in the creation
and dissemination of information.
In its strong versions, this interpretation suggests that the democratic process
itself may be undermined owing to the inadequacies of the information made
available to the public, since, if the citizenry is denied, or if it voluntarily spurns,
reliable information, then how can the ideal of a thoughtful, deliberative and
knowledgeable electorate be achieved? A poll conducted by the University of
Maryland during the 2004 Presidential election found that almost 70 per cent
of George W. Bush’s supporters believed Saddam Hussein was working with Al
Qaeda, 30 per cent believed weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq
by the invading forces, and a similar proportion thought that a majority of world
opinion backed the ‘regime change’ (http://www.pipa.org/). When so many
citizens are so woefully ignorant, questions surely must be asked about the calibre
of their information sources (Ackerman and Fishkin, 2004).
Early in the nineteenth century James Madison (1751–1836), the fourth
President of the United States and architect of the US Constitution, articulated
just this apprehension, observing that
popular government without popular information . . . is but a prologue to a
farce or tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance,
and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with
the power which knowledge gives.
(Madison, 1953, p. 337)
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